What about "tab"?

In my experience (on both sides of the bar), tab usually applies when one (or more) is at a bar/pub and plans to order a series of drinks. Rather than paying for each one as it arrives, one starts a tab, which is paid when one can (or should) drink no more.

I spent a fair bit of time waiting tables in the Northeast of USA and don't recall hearing "tab" to mean "check" - although the meaning would have been clear.